Nearly every tiki bar worth its rum has a Planterís Punch on its menu, and the Bali Hai is no exception. The older cocktail menus show the ingredients as ďFresh Lime, Orange, Pineapple, Cherry Juice, Jamaican rum, Puerto Rican rum.Ē

The current menu lists the drinkís ingredients as ďCoruba Jamaican Dark, Fruit Punch & Cruzan 151.Ē I donít know about you, but the earlier version sounds better to me.

So hereís my attempt at recreating the original Planterís Punch from the Bali Hai:

Blend ingredients with ice, pour into a vessel and garnish with a mint sprig (and maybe a pineapple spear and cocktail cherry if you have them Ė I didnít).

OK, full disclosure: when making two of these cocktails last night, I doubled each ingredient but mistakenly didnít double the rum. One sip and I knew something wasnít right. It was very tangy and the cherry juice surprisingly made its presence known. Once I realized my mistake, I made a second batch and the result was a cocktail that was very balanced. Itís amazing what an extra ounce of rum can do for a drink.

My latest attempt in recreating an old Bali Hai cocktail is for the Fog Cutter Ė a classic tiki cocktail, but one that is no longer served at Bali Hai. In trying to recreate old Bali Hai cocktails, I usually compare the listed ingredients from Bali Haiís menus with other known recipes for those cocktails. In the case of the Fog Cutter, I have recipes for versions from Trader Vicís, Dobbís House Luau, Tiburon Tommieís, and the ďother,Ē unrelated Bali Hai in New Orleans.

The (San Diego) Bali Haiís Fog Cutter is interesting in both what ingredients it includes, and what ingredients it doesnít. Like most Fog Cutter recipes that Iíve found, the Bali Hai version includes three spirits: Rum, Gin and Brandy, along with Orange Juice. But while most Fog Cutter recipes also include Lemon (or Lime) Juice and Orgeat, the Bali Hai version apparently excluded both. Instead, it seems to have replaced Lime/Lemon Juice with Pineapple Juice, and subbed Coconut Cream for the Orgeat Syrup. In addition, Bali Hai used Cherry Juice, an ingredient thatís rare in tiki style cocktails, but one that the Bali Hai used in at least one other cocktail, the Planterís Punch (see entry above).

So without further adieu, hereís my attempt at recreating Bali Haiís Fog Cutter:

I first made this cocktail without the simple syrup. Itís not listed among the ingredients, but none of the cocktails listed on the old Bali Hai menus list simple syrup and Iím sure some include it. Without the syrup, there was an odd bitterness to the drink. Adding the syrup helped balance it a bit. Still, while the cocktail is OK, itís not my favorite of the bunch. If anyone else wants to attempt it, Iíd be interested in your opinions.

Hoping to get help from someone who's got sharper eyesight than I do. On the menu below, in the bottom left hand corner, is a drink called Coral Reef. The list of ingredients are ď{{something}} Mint, Brandy, CoconutĒ. Can anyone decipher what that something is? I keep staring at it and it looks like it could be Lime or Rice or Rum or whatever. And there doesn't appear to be a comma between that and the word Mint. Maybe a brand name? I would think that the mint would be creme de menthe in this cocktail, but I'm not sure. Guesses, options, ideas welcome.

I have to agree. Blowing it up on my phone helped and it sure looks like Rose to me. I did some searching and I can't find anything about a "rose mint", but that is a fairly classic combination and is used a lot in teas.

So glad others are familiar with this late-noir classic. The bar scene is better than average, only lacking a few Tiki set dressings. In the film, Anne Baxter has a young blonde roommate who is hot in a repressed, girlish way.

Arriano, I'm planning out a big cocktail day tomorrow, including cocktails in the park, and I wanted you to know that I'm including one of yours from this thread. It's the first chance I've had since you started to sit down and actually make a decent cocktail. I am REALLY looking forward to it.

On 2013-03-01 09:50, arriano wrote:The Blue Gardenia, like the Blue Mystique, was a cocktail for two. Originally the drink called for Rhum Negrita from Martinique, lime juice, blue Curacao and brandy, and was garnished with a gardenia blossom.

I donÔŅĹt know when the cocktail name was changed to Blue Mystique, or if the ingredients to the cocktail changed at the same time as the name or if the changes have been ongoing. Either way, the Blue Mystique is made with Ron Rico light rum from Puerto Rico, blue Curacao, Sweet n Sour, and brandy. Sadly, itÔŅĹs not garnished with a blue mystique orchid, but a pineapple wedge and cocktail cherry.

The original Blue Gardenia sure would have been different from today's Blue Mystique with Rhum Negrita instead of white rum. I also wonder if the hue of the drink would have been more of a muddy blue and not the Blue Hawaiian blue of the drink today.

I have a bottle of Rhum Negrita in the cabinet and will have to try your recreation cocktail with that and see how it is. I followed the Beachbum's Sippin' Safari advice for years and steered clear of Negrita until finally I couldn't pass it up at $11 for a liter. Turns out it makes killer Grog Log Hurricanes (even better than Coruba), and also a decent house Mai Taiwhen paired with a tamer rum.

Thanks for digging into the lost Bali Hai cocktails. It will be fun coming along for the ride.

Thanks Sunny&Rummy. Interestingly enough, a Blue Gardenia cocktail was also served at Kelbo's in L.A. But no ingredients are listed on the Kelbo's menu so I don't know if it similar to the one at Bali Hai or not.
_________________"I am Lono!" -- Hunter S. Thompson

I almost didn't bother to make the Cup O Gold, but decided I should just to be complete. The ingredients of the Cup O Gold are listed on the early Bali Hai menus as pineapple juice, light Virgin Islands rum, and coconut. If that sounds familiar, it should. Itís a frickiní piŮa colada! The current Bali Hai menu now lists orange juice as an additional ingredient. That was undoubtedly necessary as Bali Haiís menu now also includes a piŮa colada. But to stick to the point of this thread, I made the original version. And you know what? It isnít bad. You know why? Because piŮa coladas are pretty damn good, although personally Iíve always felt they needed lime juice to balance out the sweetness. Hereís my take:

Mix with crushed ice in a blender, and pour ingredients in a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wedge so folks can add some lime juice if they wish. To make the current version of Bali Haiís Cup O Gold, Iíd suggest cutting the pineapple juice in half and adding 1Ĺ oz orange juice.